THE MAN CAVE

Why Do Men Shave Their Armpits?

You’re a grown ass man. It’s hard to imagine that you haven’t at least dabbled in manscaping by now. You’ve certainly shaved your face at some point. You’ve probably also experimented with your balls. There’s no shame; we all do it. When you’re ready to embrace manscaping, you’ll find that those two practices are only the beginning. Your entire body needs care. Today, you get to learn about your armpits. Shaving them is more important than you think. It’s also less of a hassle than you probably imagine. Sit back, grab a drink, and prepare yourself. You might not have imagined today as the beginning of your armpits’ destinies, but here we are.

It’s the Smell

This isn’t rocket science, guys. Your armpits stink. Most of the stink comes from sweat, and a big bushy tuft in the middle of your pits is going to contribute to that sweat. It doesn’t just make things hotter; it also traps moisture in that heat. This is the most prime environment imaginable for odorous bacteria to do their thing. So, when you get a good workout or have a stressful day, your extra manly armpit hair makes you smell every bit as worked and stressed as you are. Complete strangers can recognize what you’re going through without even seeing you. It’s pretty gross.

It might not be rocket science, but there is plenty of science invested into combating body odor. If you don’t want to completely shave your pits, the minimum effort of a simple trim once a month will be enough to mitigate this problem.

One more thing. You might be reading this in the winter. Perhaps there’s a blizzard outside. You’re thinking you can worry about this later when the temperatures warm a bit. That’s a mistake. Most guys actually have more armpit sweat in the winter. The extra layers of clothes, heaters and fires keep the average temperature of your pits higher than the peak of summer. Even worse, driving in winter is usually more stressful, so you’ll sweat even when you’re cold. You want to embrace this change today.

Live in Comfort

Smells aside, trimmed and shaved armpits are more comfortable. Those long tufts get tangled, snagged and pulled all the time. On top of that, the hair can get pretty itchy. Think about it. How many times have you scratched your pits only to feel that annoying twinge from one of the hairs getting caught? What’s worse is that the itchy hair makes you scratch your pits, but it also traps moisture. After a vigorous scratch, your hand comes back glistening. Nobody wants that.

The comfort of trimmed pits goes beyond reducing a few points of discomfort throughout the day. As you already know, that hair is bushy enough to trap heat. On the coldest day of your life, your armpits were plenty warm. It’s why you’ve stuck your fingers between them after scraping your windshield. You don’t need that extra heat, and when you feel the coolness on a hot day, you’ll be forever glad you took the time to manage that fur.

It Looks Better

Manscaping always comes back to aesthetics at some point. The gateway drug is trimming your beard. You try different stuff and finally find a look that suits you. The positive reactions you get from the ladies (or men if that’s your thing) keep you going, and eventually you wonder about sculpting other parts of your body. Pubes are an inevitable experiment, and that effort is usually met with equal optimism.

Eventually, you would probably discover on your own that there’s visual motivation for trimming your pits. If you want to skip that pointless journey of self-reflection, you can learn the two tips right here and now. First, there is no man on this planet who can make a patch of fuzz sticking out the arm hole of his shirt look sexy. It cannot be done. This is not a challenge. Move on.

Second, trimmed pits are excellent for making your shirtless body pop. It highlights defined triceps and iron pecs. Trimming will get some of this effect, but if you look at male models, you’ll notice that the fully shaved pit gets the best effect.

Evolution

Here’s the final reason you’re going to start shaving your pits. It’s evolution. No, really. To date, scientists cannot offer a definitive explanation for why men have armpit hair. Most of the hair on your body serves some kind of purpose. The hair on your head keeps you warm and protects from the sun. Those obviously aren’t issues for the armpits. Your pubes kept your ancestors giblets from freezing. It might have also prevented bites we don’t want to really consider.

Even the light hair on your arms serves to amplify your sense of touch. The little fibers pick up breezes and other subtle things that otherwise might go unnoticed. The armpits benefit from none of this. They aren’t a particularly sensory part of your body, they aren’t at risk for bites, and the sun doesn’t exactly get a lot of up time there.

There is one theory that has at least some following among biologists. They think armpit hair might have helped cavemen attract mates. Think of it like a really gross form of peacocking. Applying that knowledge, the next step in evolution is obvious. You’re going to have better success attracting mates if you shave. You can’t argue with science.

Doing the Deed

Now that you understand the need, you have to learn how to shave your pits. Don’t worry. It’s much easier than you think. You’re going to get a Lawn Mower 2.0. That’s pretty much going to take care of everything. It’s made for manscaping your whole body, including your junk, so a less sensitive area is no problem at all.

The technique is pretty easy. You’re going to straight for the throat. There’s no need for cutting guards or anything else. Simply turn on the 2.0 and get to trimming. The flexible blade will be able to contour to your skin without and cuts or nicks. If you’re really bushy, then take it easy on the first pass. You don’t need to be skin close right away. Instead get rid of the masses of hair and clean things up on a second pass.

For that second pass, you can push pretty firmly into your skin with no problem. You'll be surprised by how close a trim you can get with this device. For most guys, it’s enough that they don’t need to touch a razor. If you do want a razor, that’s pretty easy too.

The best tool for the job is The Plow. It’s a safety razor designed for use on the body. Simply lather up some shaving cream or gel and apply it to the pit. Raise your arm and do your shaving. You’ll find the armpit is more accessible than other places you manscape, so this will be mostly painless. The tricky part is getting your dominant arm. The Plow is a safety razor, but if you’re clumsy enough you can still carve yourself. Take your time and you’ll be fine. If you need a little courage, just remember all of the reasons you have to be doing this in the first place.

That’s all it takes to manage the hair, but there’s one thing you want to consider. Stubble is uncomfortable. When it’s on your face, you don’t have to worry too much. It doesn’t touch much. With your armpits, the stubble is going to rub you raw. There are two ways to deal with this. The first is to not shave. Trim the hair but leave it just long enough to not be prickly. It’s pretty easy, but you might be sacrificing some of that aesthetic value for comfort.

The other option is to soften the hair follicles. For that, you want a treatment that hydrates, helps maintain a health pH and promotes healthy body hair. You’ll find all of that in Crop Cleanser. Simply shower with it after you shave and it’ll begin a healing process that takes the sting out of regrowth.

That’s all you need to know today, gentlemen. This armpit shaving guide is brought to you by Manscaped.com. It’s the one place where you can find all of the tools and knowledge necessary for a complete approach to manscaping. Browse to your heart’s content, and check in frequently. We never stop updating.